Sweet Success

A 4-2 victory over Detroit this afternoon secured the AL Central Division Championship for the Sox, making the final series of the series vs. Cleveland over the weekend irrelevant. After seeing their lead in the division slip to as few as 1.5 games, the Sox were able to hold strong and fend of the charging Indians who have finally stumbled this week dropping 2 of 3 to Tampa. The win also makes this years Sox the first team in club history to be in first place from wire-to-wire.
Leading by 3 games heading into today's contest, all the Sox had to do was win today, regardless of what Cleveland did, and hold on to their 3 game lead to be able to clinch the Division title. By having a 3 game lead with 3 games left to play against the Indians after today, the Sox could be swept over the weekend and still own the AL Central crown. If the Sox were swept and tied with Cleveland in the standings at the end of the season, the Sox would still own the Division because MLB's rules for breaking a tie in a division is not decided by a 1 game playoff, but rather is decided by which team leads the season series between the two clubs. With the Sox owning a 11-5 record against the Tribe this season, Cleveland would be able to do no better than 8-11 vs. the Pale Hose, which automatically gives the Sox the tie-breaker. What a relief it is to know that our team will not be tagged as the owners of what many would call the biggest collapse of all-time. Let's leave that to the other side of town.
Although the Sox have played more than their fair share of games that should and could have been won in the last 2 months, their diminished lead should be attributed more so to Cleveland's recent tear than the Sox lack of consistent, fundamental play during the same period. While the Indians went about 38-10 since August, the Sox hovered around .500 and watched their lead wane away. If the Tribe had gone something more like 32-16, the Division would have been sealed up a week ago. The Sox saving grace was their own tear throughout the first 4 months of the season which turned out to provide enough padding for them to endure their recent struggles. Even though the Sox probably aren't as good as their first half record might indicate, they also aren't as bad as their just over .500 record in the second half would incline you to believe either. When the pitching is on, as it has been in the last 7 games, and the defense makes the plays they're supposed to make, this team can play on par with anybody.

Finally, here is a nice article by Kass over at the Cubune. Great read.

Speaking of par/golf....I know they say no one cares about your golf game but you (yourself), but this is so rare that I'm going to put it on here anyway. I was golfing earlier this week when I experienced a personal first. I was hitting my second shot on a 410 yd. par 4, a blind shot as there was a hill in the fairway in front of me and the green was behind and below it. So I hit a 9 iron from about 135-140 yards, right on line, and it felt great coming off the club. Because I couldn't see it land, I just assumed it was on the dance floor because of the way I hit it. I get up to the green but my ball is not there. I drive around to see if I went long, still no sight of it. After 5 minutes of driving in circles around the green searching, I give up, take a drop in the rough and chip up on to the green. I walk up to the flag to pull it out for my putt, and what do I find in the hole? My freakin' ball! An eagle 2 from 135 yards. I've never chipped in from any kind of distance (never anything other than short chips from around the green, ones that you see go in the hole) so I never even thought to check the cup. On top of that I scoped the green for ball marks and there was not a single one, so either it landed off the green and got one hell of a roll, or it was nothing but the bottom of the cup. Since I didn't see it happen, I'll choose to believe the latter.